ENTREPRENEUER & ENTREPRENEURSHIP A Presentation by Dr.Daleep Parimoo People are afraid of the future, of the unknown.
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ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 2
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 3
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 4
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 5
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 6
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 7
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 8
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 9
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 10
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 11
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 12
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 13
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 14
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 15
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 16
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 17
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 18
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 19
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 20
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 21
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 22
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 23
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 24
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 25
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 26
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 27
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 28
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 29
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 30
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 31
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 32
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 33
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 34
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 35
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 36
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 37
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 38
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 39
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 40
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 41
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 42
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 43
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 44
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 45
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 46
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 47
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 48
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 49
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 50
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 51
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 52
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 53
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 54
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 55
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 56
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 57
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 58
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 59
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 60
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 61
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 62
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 63
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 64
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 65
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 66
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 67
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 68
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 69
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 70
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 71
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 72
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 73
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 74
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 75
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 76
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 77
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 78
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 79
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 80
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 81
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 82
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 83
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 84
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 85
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 86
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 87
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 88
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 89
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 90
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 91
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 92
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 93
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 94
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 95
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 96
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 97
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 98
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 99
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 100
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 101
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 102
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 103
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 104
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 105
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 106
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 107
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 108
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 109
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 110
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 111
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 112
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 113
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 114
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 115
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 116
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 117
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 118
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 119
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 120
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 121
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 122
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 123
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 2
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 3
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 4
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 5
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 6
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 7
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 8
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 9
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 10
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 11
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 12
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 13
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 14
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 15
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 16
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 17
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 18
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 19
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 20
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 21
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 22
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 23
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 24
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 25
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 26
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 27
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 28
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 29
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 30
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 31
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 32
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 33
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 34
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 35
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 36
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 37
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 38
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 39
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 40
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 41
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 42
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 43
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 44
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 45
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 46
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 47
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 48
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 49
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 50
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 51
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 52
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 53
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 54
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 55
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 56
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 57
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 58
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 59
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 60
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 61
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 62
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 63
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 64
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 65
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 66
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 67
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 68
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 69
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 70
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 71
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 72
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 73
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 74
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 75
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 76
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 77
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 78
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 79
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 80
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 81
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 82
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 83
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 84
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 85
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 86
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 87
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 88
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 89
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 90
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 91
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 92
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 93
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 94
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 95
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 96
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 97
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 98
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 99
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 100
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 101
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 102
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 103
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 104
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 105
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 106
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 107
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 108
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 109
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 110
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 111
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 112
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 113
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 114
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 115
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 116
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 117
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 118
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 119
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 120
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 121
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 122
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.
Slide 123
ENTREPRENEUER
&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A Presentation by
Dr.Daleep Parimoo
People are afraid of the future, of the
unknown. If a man faces up to it, and
takes the dare of the future, he can have
some control over his destiny. That’s
an exciting idea to me, better than
waiting with everybody else to see
what’s going to happen.
---John Glenn
N.Murthy
JRD
D.Ambani
BM Munjal
Rahul Bajaj
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Mahendra Nahata
Lakshmi Mittal
WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN
THESE GENTLEMEN ?
WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?
COMMON & UNCOMMON
•THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES
•THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY
YOU & ME HAS NOT
•THEY ARE DETERMINED
•THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE
Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe
Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People
bare-footed.
One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying
NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.
The other one wrote to his parents saying
HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE
STATEMENTS OF THOSE
TWO INDIVIDUALS
PERCEPTION?
THINKING ?
WHAT ………..?
Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants
Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees
Plan for life time, Develop Man
Plan for country’s Economy, Develop
Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial
culture
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor
Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start
Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and
Would like to
Make things happen
Have his own way of doing things
Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to
Average person
Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With
Profit/Non-Profit Motive
Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th
century French...the
individual who undertook the risk of a new
enterprise... “undertakers”.
They were “contractors” who bore the risks
of profit or loss
Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers,
builders, merchants and funeral directors
Entrepreneur
14th
century...Tax contractors...bore the
risks of collecting taxes. If they collected
more than the fee...they kept the rest as
profit.
Called
the “change agents” of
progressive economies
Entrepreneur
“Essai
sur la nature du commerce en
general”(Test on the nature of commerce in
general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a
person who pays a certain price for a product to
resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using resources
while consequently assuming the risk of
enterprise
Entrepreneur
Adam
Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke
of the “enterpriser” as an individual who
undertook the formation of an organization for
commercial purposes
A. Smith...mentioned “role of
industrialist...,person with unusual foresight
who could recognize potential demand for
goods and services”
Entrepreneur
“A Treatise
on Political Economy”...describes
an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain
arts and skills of creating new economic
enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional
insight into society’s needs and was able to
fulfill them.
Influences society and is influenced by it.
Entrepreneur
John
Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a
business founder
Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic
theory
Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: “Economic
change does not arise from circumstances but from an
individual’s awareness and understanding of those
circumstances
Entrepreneur
In
19th century entrepreneurs were:
Risk
takers
Decision
Aspired
makers
to wealth
Gathered
and managed resources to create
new enterprises
Entrepreneur
Joseph
Schumpeter...20th century talks about
“creative destruction” whereby established ways
of doing things are destroyed by the creation of
new and better ways of getting things done
Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as
innovators who use process to shatter the status
quo through new methods...
Entrepreneurs...
Are
not equal to inventors...inventor
might only create a new product,
whereas an entrepreneur will gather
resources, organize talent, and provide
leadership to make it a commercial
success
Peter
Drucker...”Resources, to
produce results, must be allocated to
opportunities rather than to problems...
Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent
something to be considered
entrepreneur an individual can pick up
something that already exists and make
it different-By his/her innovative ideas
Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels
some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants
N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities
T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas
R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly
E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found
P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on
setting of the venture
R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards
E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision
N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work
E:Employs Resources necessary for venture
U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work
R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and
learns from failures.
Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an
individual to see opportunities, where others see
only problems. They solve problems and take
advantage of opportunities. They are interested
in progress and change
Entrepreneurship
“The pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources you currently control”
– Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business
School
Entrepreneurship
Is
a dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. This wealth is
created by individuals who assume the
major risks in terms of equity, time and
career commitment of providing value
for some product or service
The
entrepreneur must somehow
infuse value to the product or service...
Entrepreneurship
“[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a
lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are
a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg
creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create
businesses... it is just a different canvas.”
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com
Entrepreneurial Culture
Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are
prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of
values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in
a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on
the emergence of new opportunities, the means of
capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for
pursuing them. The difference between administrative and
entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control
and where is the opportunity ?
When we say what resources to control, we talk about
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about
opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE
What’s the spirit of the
entrepreneur?
� Creative
�Excited about life and optimistic
� Independent
� Risk-taking
� And needing self-expression
Attributes of an Entrepreneur
•Out of Box Thinker
One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no
demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet
•Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it
took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM
•Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who
creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-
Sahiyog Andolan
•Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of
being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer
BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.
Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us
of electricity
•Risk Taker
Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can n’t
stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.
Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT
SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
•Undeterred by failure
Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He
remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture
Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL
Opportunity Seeker
They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity
to fill it up .Sunil
•Perseverance and Patience
Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom
scenario.
John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man
with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job
To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for
his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs.
Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible!
Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so?
However, he again started his new venture. Guess What?
He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his
dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over
decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National
Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to
this world as
COCA COLA
This is what is called entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident
Able
and optimistic
to take calculated risk
Respond
positively to changes
Flexible
and able to adapt
Knowledgeable
Able
of markets
to get along well with others
Independent
minded
Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic
and diligent
Creative,
need to achieve
Dynamic
Leader
Responsive
Take
to suggestions
initiatives
Resourceful
Perceptive
and persevering
with foresight
Responsive to criticism
ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE
THEY...
•Risk their own money
•Must find customers to survive
•Organize their own work
•Are vulnerable to economic change
•Have income that varies with market success
•Make all the final decisions
•Need a wide range of management skills
•Handle diverse activities at the same time
•Depend on their own ability to market and sell
•Work longer hours...at least at first
•Are open to change as a necessity of existence
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES
Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a
person which enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or a situation.
They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and
skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.
COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than
compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for
others to start.
Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset
where one is trained to look for business
opportunities from everyday experiences.
Persistence- A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving
up easily, striving Information seeking continuously
until success is achieved.
Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts,
reading relevant material and an overall openness
to ideas and information.
Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details
and observance of established standards and norms.
Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains
to complete a task as scheduled.
Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of
time, money and effort.
Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole
into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring
about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to
production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of
the overall business strategy (the whole).
Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing
and curing.
Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks
associated with business and relying on one’s
capabilities to successfully manage these.
Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically one’s vision
and convincing others of its value.
Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.
Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership.
Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture
as planned.
Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in
employee well being as the key to competitiveness
and success and initiating programmes of employee
welfare.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges
and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and
consume these merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as
well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation
and sale at HIS place… if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is
the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume
packaged juices when by the roadside
they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the countries that
could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS
Why Entrepreneurial Motivation
An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special
Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY
INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR
An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure
because of the nature of his job, hence sustained
Motivation is required to accomplish his job
what motivates an entrepreneur.
Different Theories
•Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow
•Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and
.
McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of
entrepreneurial motivation has given
Three main Motivation factors for their motivation:
•Need for Achievement (N-Ach.),
•Need for Power (N-Pow)
•Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.).
However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in
entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement
motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial
motivation.
Need for Achievement
Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to
this need that one may just stop short of taking
entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as
synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence,
competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A
complete achievement sequence would comprise, “…
defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to
solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it
(either in one’s self or in the environment), thinking of people
who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would
happen if one succeeded or failed.”
•They are determined to finish a project once undertaken
Even under difficult conditions
•They are able to examine themselves and their ideas
Impartially, never slipping into complacency
•They don’t blame others or make excuses for their own
Failures/Errors
•Their aspirations and expectations are always rising
•They have good grasp of general economic concepts
•They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at
hand
What it takes to be Entrepreneur
Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner,
Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
•Entrepreneur’s advice -Raghav Kher
•If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need
to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of
thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great
ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to
excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are
bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success.
•If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose
again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go
through to emerge successful.
Contd
The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep
•An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The
important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process
that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important
though, and your passion will keep you going.
•You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could
be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you
offer customers.
•You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the
company grows, the number of people will increase.
• You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good
work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and
scale with the business.
•Should have a bit of luck too
SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS
NARAYANA MURTHY
•To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a
successful corporation is longevity–my heroes are companies like IBM,
Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter
after quarter, for a long time.
•The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the
prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to
improvement.
•Value system
•Trust of employees, investors
Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
His success mantra lies in the identification,
acquisition and turnaround of many loss making
steel companies all across the world
Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal
challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and
the critical success factors in an economic environment
that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux.
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the
root of new leadership paradigm.
Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile
customers, reading their mind and predicting the future
consumption trend.
In this era of me-too products that flood the market
place, the key to survival and success of an innovation
is speed to market.
Retaining talent and building a team around then is as
critical as recruiting talent.
The key to talent retention is building structures and
processes that keep the organizational objectives and
employees’ aspirations in alignment.
•
Build adaptability in the system to quickly
respond to changes in macro environment.
•
Build a learning organization that
promotes individual and collective learning
as well as systematic unlearning of past
knowledge that becomes irrelevant.
•
Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the
essentials of new leadership.
•
The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of
an entrepreneurship, who sees
opportunities ahead of competition, and
who is not afraid to challenge conventional
wisdom.
Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation,
which global detergent giants were later on compelled to
emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment
friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour
intensive, which offered large scale employment.
Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard
work; and the importance of giving back to the society-
Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called
as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the
success of the largest dairy development program in the world,
christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.
Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of
tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.
George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)
Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I
am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed.
I will not make an important decision without them
Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.
Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)
The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that
nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.
Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)
Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into
denials.
WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Research findings
•Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break'
attempted to define the secret of becoming an
entrepreneur
•Following interviews with over one hundred
entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not
one defined path
•They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original
thinkers, risk takers and break new ground.
•Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new
business opportunities and have the guts it needs to
start up a business.
•They have total commitment to what they are doing
•Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those
of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a
tendency to come up with good ideas, which they
execute better than anyone else.
•The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are
able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and
to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a
profit
Sue Birley, Imperial College
Management School Professor of
Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes
from, concluded that to get a business
established you need someone with
persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions
about identifying resources to transform the
vision into reality.
Extensive research has been carried out on the
psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is
Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at
Manchester University's Institute of Science and
Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs
are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful
desire to achieve
He says that They do not get distracted by either
success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied
and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after
one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it
again to prove it was not just a freak event.
ENTREPRENEURS
Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW
INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO.
PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF
BHARTI ENTERPRISE.
LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH
SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS.
INDIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO
SINGAPORE).
$ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT.
INDIA’S FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND
ABOUT
24,000 KMS.
Milestones
1976 – MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS
MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS.
1985 – BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS
INCORPORATED.
1992 – BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS
FORMED
1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE
TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN
SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR.
1999 – BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA
ONLINE.
2001 – ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM
SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA.
2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE
INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.
Million dollar company built on a failure
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming
online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting
most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams.
His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture
failed to produce any profits.
Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give
up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed
Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the
genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization
company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009,
Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.
Vishal Sampat
Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd
Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000
The reason he started the venture was that he believed there
was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian
music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in
their own country?
A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio
capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute
programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio
jockey) capsules in the middle
Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they
were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they
got free space from various free web hosting companies that
operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load
balanced with these servers and got their online music channel
going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet
bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't
very happy about that.
He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six
and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out
this business online. Being in college and having no sense of
economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website
transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal
for teenagers.
What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that
was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an
era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then.
This venture was something that they thought they might try and
make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen.
What did He learn or gain from this failure?
He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio
FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market
the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis
of his current venture
He used search engines to market both the services; He used
online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of
online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering
various products under the Convonix .
Convonix's business model
Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO
Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for
such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail
the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to
do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
The org identifies who is searching for their products and services,
estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are
using for their search and where they are looking out for their
requirements
Other Business is :paid advertising business.
The company has around 50 employees spread
across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the
company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in
Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the
headcount
Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one
million dollar company Convonix?…in his own words:
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we
learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I
started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't
making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online,
according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003
when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of
Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain
and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass
out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their
engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are
still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the
revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my
business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have
ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
His advice to budding entrepreneurs
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and
that what you are doing is right and has a future,
then you should persevere and work honestly
towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be
successful one day. You will get a million people
who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing
what you are doing, but you have to persevere.
The world will never believe in you till you achieve
something. That perhaps is the most difficult
aspect for the people who are starting on their
own.
Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25
Atul Khekade –Innovation Trip
What does it take to start a company? Well,
if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip,
then only $2,000 would be sufficient to
bankroll a business -- a business that was
expected to generate revenues of $250,000
by December and could well hit the million
dollar mark by 2008-2009.
Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a
Marathi medium school where the culture of
entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was
considered a better option than becoming a businessman.
He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of
friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that
encouraged entrepreneurship.
Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having
studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an
atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship,
Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation
Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.
Innovation Trip’s core
business is to arrange for
corporate executives to
meet with idea innovators
abroad and discuss these
ideas one-on-one.
He completed his engineering course in Information
Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering.
After completing the course he started working with i-Flex
as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and
then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005.
Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation
Trip; he was only 23 at the time.
Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer
engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai
and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise.
Developed applications for the Web, writing software
programs and selling them to companies.
It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful
payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture,
they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did.
That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next
enterprise, Innovation Trip
Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate
executives from all over the world to countries like the US,
Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact
with innovators abroad.
Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people
who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and
exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into
innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation.
Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between
an innovative idea and its successful execution.
Revenue Model
Revenues come from registration fees that every
participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant.
That is the main contribution.
Apart from company receives money from companies that
sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound
trips etc
Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from
India.
Some of them are:
•GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad,
•BPI Engineering,
•UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm,
•Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a
•BSE-listed company Bartronics India
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?…. In
his own words
India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of
hurdles in bootstrapping a venture.
I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook.
Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky
business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their
companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in
India.
Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the
US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an
international company. India as a country is great to operate in
because of its low costs.
'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27
M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive
officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount
Airways
At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched
India's first and only 'business class' airline
Paramount Airways.
Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in
Madurai when he was dabbling in business
management
Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a
hobby pilot.
An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked
Thiagarajan's passion for aviation.
"A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in
Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He
began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough
chaos to bring the flight instructor running
But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started
taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When
the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was
an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly!
Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu
Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education
founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in
functioning independently of the family connections.
"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."
And that he has done time and again to prove his point.
When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost
airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan
purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to
give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.
The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that
Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within
two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of
employees of zero per cent.
At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of
the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount
Airways.
To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to
create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him
an opportunity to set up a global brand.
By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the
highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion
Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills
began even as he was graduating in management.
Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to
assiduously research the various existing business models of
international airline companies. This was to primarily understand
the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized
that I didn't want to imitate any model.
Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational
profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the
impossible, the often untried, happen
Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd
also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words
My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere
endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams.
Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction,
while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live
life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!
It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a
company worth $ 300 million
Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia
Directi (pronounced Direct I
in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then.
Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only
16
The company delves into traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software.
"Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the
fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at
Directi.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young
entrepreneurs believe…in their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are
not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of
reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you
need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once
you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach
your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire
the best people in your line of business.
The team that you will build around you will significantly impact
the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always
design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much
difficulty.
Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure.
Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be
several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making
them on an ongoing basis.
Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great
numbers of variables affecting their businesses.
Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers
school days. While in school they coded large numbers of
complicated projects in programming languages far more
complex than the general curriculum at that point in time.
During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just
as a side project for a couple of months. Both were
freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations,
hardware consultancies and various random things now and
then.
Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of
fundamental services that will be useful to setup web
services. That's how Directi started.
They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first
server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.
There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN
Accredition & started making business automation
solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online
advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail
solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and
windows server management software, web hosting
control panels and many other products.
Hobbies and interests
Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction,
non-fiction, books on time management and have an
extremely huge library at home.
Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general.
Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports
like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing
walking, skateboarding.
1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million.
The company is a debt-free and investment-free
company as it generates enough revenues from their
various business models to take care of their financial
needs.
They have always grown through internal accruals;
have always been very cash-flow positive company,
very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of
internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell
equity to outside investors.
Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda
The forties were turbulent times, but in the
midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless
brothers in undivided Punjab were marking
time for an opportunity to explode upon the
Indian corporate scenario. They were the
Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij
and Om.
Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur
district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked
at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading.
Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his
older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in
bicycle components
In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of
India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift
base from Lahore to Amritsar.
Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing
available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair
them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started
making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our
family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts
from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and
bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start
making these parts."
Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of
events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country
and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them
into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components
business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again
-- this time to Ludhiana.
Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called
Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already
started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like
us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the
possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful
combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."
India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance.
The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels
for it.
"Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers,
bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind
Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were
one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of
operation would be Ludhiana."
Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas,
a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a
buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India.
This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their
bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always,
wheels turned within wheels.
Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the
brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of
challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a
manufacturing licence.
Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence
minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that
if you have to get these people settled and provide them with
employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture
something, allow people to import something. He created the
National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. "
"A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to
advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid,
nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to
Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made
a blueprint for the NSIC."
What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their
gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government
regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling
across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities.
It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles.
Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed
encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up.
Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers
Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place.
This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing
competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles.
While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the
globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his
first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave
this competition miles behind.
Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I
started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I
think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done
then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)."
While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his
brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the
good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck.
While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got
even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the
Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had
guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business.
This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals,
but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The
Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look
at their long-term expansion strategy.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero
Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that
would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal
restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business.
Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant
doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles
in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred
into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into
mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in
Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles'
two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.
But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a
partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant
Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the
dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and
Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot
machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto
By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian
moped market.
The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in
1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1
million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into
unknown business territories.
"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the
business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active
members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a
classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing
family."
"He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the
original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal
companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who
wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did
that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and
2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they
went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . .
although not all of these succeeded."
"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling
steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all
this was their continuous growth in the auto components'
segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key
competitive strength."
After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of
Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum
leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in
fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late.
With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero
Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the
decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese
automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born.
Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.
Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and
the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj
Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of
12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all.
Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce
scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise.
India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated
into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the
malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the
sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly
line, were just such a welcome sight.
But just when things were looking promising for the new joint
venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and
cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an
unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star
Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in
their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented
confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The
Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational
hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan
Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not
even after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was
a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That
month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their
pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few
months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."
Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera,
Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside
Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc
Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985
and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable
success.
Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a
never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler
industry was born.
The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt
with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The
new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns
from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate
suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed
and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money.
"The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike.
Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They
were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the
fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it
be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate
balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.
But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the
Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop
rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in
India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer.
The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness
Book of World Records.
"When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press
release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle
maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a
source of pride. There were very few world class companies in
India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it
was possible for Indian companies to be world class."
Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the
Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new
horizons.
In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one
manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to
reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen
exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors
made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual
profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark
ones.
Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the
responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental
in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died
quite suddenly in June 1991.
When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM
Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into
business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under
Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj
Auto."
One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his
mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant
passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his
determination; he was made of sterner stuff.
Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's
expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its
portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its
customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero
Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.
And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with
Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way,
laughing into a brand-new sunrise.
This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that
was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler
manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to
manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals
the offer came just a wee bit too late.
Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very
focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate
company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make
scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of
years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of
two-wheelers."
Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front.
. . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there
were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for
instance, which model should be introduced in the second
round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant.
It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and
spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth
got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the
leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a
very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"
The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero
Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the
German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce
the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan
worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the
Munjals poorer but wiser.
Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all
opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability
to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript
lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also
the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the
90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown
on unexplored soil.
Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch
Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled
services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million
motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of
the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles.
The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail
services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the
difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to
learn.
In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an
export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine
through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one
and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer
mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them.
The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with
their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its
100 cc Pleasure in 2006.
"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang
on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been
disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been
allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much
larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring
cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the
Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought."
Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and
expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies
developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the
Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.
So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international
renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication
towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his
dreams and fulfilled tehm.
With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country,
the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of
Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all
been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls
didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of
entrepreneurship.
Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc
People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary,
that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just
constantly believe there is a better way, that there is
opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do
it."
Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits
with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief
that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a
problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly.
I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets
before I design them," he continued.